The milling or grinding of citrus fiber is generally known in the art. Notably, it is common to lime citrus mill effluents, the peel, rag, seed, pulp etc., to dewater them and to mill or at least chop them prior to kiln-drying and sale as animal-feed. Such effluents are often even disposed of, by incineration or other means. They are also used as fertilizer.
It is generally known in the art to make citrus albedo flour, pectin thickeners or similar solids for use in foods from the citrus effluent.
Moreover, it has previously been disclosed that the size of citrus particles suspended in juices or beverages can be reduced by all manner of methods involving a substantial amount of a liquid phase, e.g., homogenization, colloid milling, high-shear mixing etc. The liquid phase can be water or juice.
General background in connection with art-known processes for making citrus fiber is available in "Citrus Science and Technology", Ed. Nagy, Vols. 1 and 2, AVI Publishing Co. Inc., 1977. This classic reference teaches, at least in the context of preparing citrus beverages, that there are serious flavor-related problems involved in adding size-reduced rag or core material.
Wasting a significant fraction of citrus fiber which might in principle be incorporated into whole juices or beverages for human consumption is a practice which has continued. This may be for lack of an economically viable alternative or because of consumer dissatisfaction with attempted solutions. In any event, the consumer's increasing awareness of the benefits of natural fiber in the human diet mandates a way to increase the fiber content of beverages. On the other hand, it is known that consumers tend to dislike citrus juices or beverages into which large amounts of pulp are incorporated, at least in part due to organoleptic problems associated with such highly pulpy Juices or beverages. Organoleptic problems frequently encountered are grittiness, high viscosity and off-flavor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome problems, believed to be hitherto unsolved, relating to recovery and size-reduction of natural citrus fiber, so that it can be incorporated into citrus Juices, such as orange juice, or into other fruit juices or beverages thereby providing a healthier drink in an economically attractive way without consumer dissatisfaction on grounds of flavor or texture.